Chu Ci — 亦余心之所善兮

This line—“Also that which my heart holds good, though nine deaths still I would not repent”—captures the fierce, unwavering commitment at the core of *Li Sao* (“Encountering Sorrow”), the longest and most renowned poem in the *Chu Ci*. Here, the speaker affirms a personal moral standard so deeply internalized that even repeated, mortal peril cannot shake it. The surrounding lines reinforce this stance: he refuses to conform to a corrupt court where “cleverness” overrides principle, where “rules are abandoned and measures changed,” and where flattery passes for virtue. He declares himself apart—not by choice, but by nature—like a bird of prey that cannot flock with common birds, or like a square and a circle that cannot fit together. His integrity is not performative; it is embodied in ritual acts of renewal: turning back from error, repairing his “original robes,” weaving lotus leaves into garments, gathering hibiscus for a skirt. Even when unrecognized, he insists, “if my inner feeling is truly fragrant, that is enough.” The *Chu Ci* preserves this voice not as abstract philosophy but as lived conviction—where ethical resolve takes shape in image, gesture, and unflinching speech. The line does not promise victory or reward; it names fidelity itself as the ground on which the self stands.